“I was silently fighting this chronic panic disorder from the age of 13.”

On this week’s edition of the Oxygen Advantage® Podcast Patrick is joined, by musician, author, mindfulness therapist and mental health advocate, Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin.

A former Westmeath Gaelic footballer and Leinster Rugby player, Niall is a well-known celebrity in his native Ireland where he rose to fame as front man for rock band The Blizzards and as a solo performer.

In more recent years, Niall has grown in prominence thanks to his work with mental health awareness and his part in founding mental health advocacy charity A Lust for Life where he currently serves as Creative Director.

Growing up in Ireland in the 90s, Niall would sometimes run afoul of the Christian Brothers teaching him in school and suffered beatings at their hands. Niall moved to Israel with his father, a UN representative, at 13 and suffered PTSD after experiencing the conflict going on there. It reached a point where he was experiencing 2-3 panic attacks per day.

Niall still captained his school football team and would go on to play U21 Gaelic football for his county and professional rugby for Leinster before embarking on his music career. In fact, exercising was the only time that Niall felt he could “breathe normally”.

Everything came to a head when he suffered a massive panic attack prior to an episode of Ireland’s The Voice where he was working as judge.

Since then, Niall has done “everything and anything” he can to communicate what he went through and help others to deal with similar problems.

Find out more about Niall’s Mindfulness work at www.niallbreslin.com.

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